ASSALLIRE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

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The Law Mind • 686 words

Definition

A Latin term from feudal law meaning "to assault." Used in medieval legal texts to describe the act of physical attack or violent aggression, particularly in the context of feudal obligations and the protections owed between lord and vassal. The term appears in the Libri Feudorum, the foundational compilation of Lombard feudal custom, and was carried into English legal writing through the works of scholars such as Spelman.

Common Confusion

ASSALLIRE vs. ASSAULT: Assallire is the Latin root verb form found in feudal and ecclesiastical sources; it is not interchangeable with the common law term ASSAULT, which developed distinct technical elements under English law. A researcher encountering assallire in a feudal document should not assume the term carries the common law meaning of assault (apprehension of imminent harmful contact), which is a later doctrinal construction. The feudal usage denotes the physical act of attacking more broadly, without the specific intent and apprehension framework that defines common law assault.

ASSALLIRE vs. ADSALLIRE: Burrill's entry directs readers to ADSALLIRE as a related or variant form. The two terms appear to describe the same underlying concept — attacking or assaulting — with spelling variation reflecting the inconsistency common in medieval Latin transcription. Researchers should search both forms when working through feudal manuscripts or early glossaries.

Why It Matters in Research

This term will appear almost exclusively in Latin feudal texts and in early English legal dictionaries and glossaries that drew on those sources. Its primary home is the Libri Feudorum (also called the Consuetudines Feudorum), specifically Book II, Title 24, which governed causes by which a vassal might forfeit a fief — including violent acts against a lord. Researchers working on feudal tenure, causes of forfeiture, or the relationship between lord and vassal in medieval property law will encounter assallire as a term of art within that forfeiture framework.

Two research traps apply here. First, Latin spelling in medieval manuscripts was highly unstable; assallire, adsallire, and variant spellings may all appear in different copies of the same source. A corpus search on one spelling alone will miss instances rendered differently. Second, because the term is a verb rather than a noun or defined legal category, it often appears embedded in clauses rather than as a headword, making it easy to overlook in index-based research.

The connection to English law runs through reception of feudal doctrine by common lawyers and antiquarians, particularly Spelman, whose Glossarium Archaeologicum was a significant conduit for Latinized feudal vocabulary into English legal scholarship. Researchers tracing the English law of forfeiture or the feudal background to treason doctrine may find assallire appearing in that historiographical lineage.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the foundational entry: "L. Lat. In feudal law. To assault. Feud. Lib. 2, tit. 24, § 5. Spelman." The entry is brief and functional — Burrill treats the term as self-explanatory once its feudal context and Latin root are identified. He cross-references ADSALLIRE without explaining what, if any, substantive distinction exists between the two forms, which suggests the difference is orthographic rather than doctrinal.

Burrill's citation to the Libri Feudorum, Book II, Title 24, is the critical anchor. That title addressed the circumstances under which a vassal could lose a fief through misconduct toward a lord, with violent attack being among the most serious grounds. The reference to Spelman points to his role as an intermediary between continental feudal scholarship and English legal antiquarianism.

No definition of assallire appears in later standard English law dictionaries such as Black's or Bouvier's, which reflects the term's status as obsolete Latin vocabulary rather than living common law doctrine. Researchers should not expect to find it in American legal sources.

Jurisdictional Note

Assallire is a term of medieval feudal law with no surviving operative use in any modern jurisdiction. It is relevant only to historical legal research focused on feudal tenure systems, primarily in Continental European and English medieval law.

ASSALLIREmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

L. Lat. In feudal law. To assault. Feud. Lib. 2, tit. 24, § 5. Spelman. See Adsallire. ASSART, Essart. [L. Lat. assartum, assertum, essartum, exartum.] In English forest and ecclesiastical law. An offence committed in the forest, by pulling up by the roots the woods that are thickets and coverts for the deer, and making them plain, (that is, clear) as arable land. Manwood, p. 2, c. 9, n. 1. Termes de la Ley. Cowell. 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 486, 487, § 627. The land itself so assarted, that is, cleared and prepared for, or reduced to cultivation. Cowell. Land grubbed up and made fit for tillage. Bunb. 129, case 201. Id. 312, case 396. The L. Lat. form of this word is written assartum and essartum, (qq. v.) the former occurring in Bracton and Fleta, the latter in the Charta de Foresta and the Black Book of the Exchequer. Spelman, who adopts the latter, derives it from the Fr. essarter, corresponding with the Lat. interlucare, to thin woods by cutting trees at intervals, so as to admit the sun, (ita ut sol interluceat); to cut down woods; to clear of thickets; to bring rough and uncultivated grounds into a proper state for cultivation. Essartum he further derives from the Lat. exertum, pulled up by the roots; eradicated. Spelman, voc. Essartum. Mr. Somner thinks exartum to be a contraction of exaratum, ploughed up, from exarare, to plough up, to which opinion. Dufresne also inclines. Cowell. To ASSART. [L. Lat. assartare, assertare, exartare, sartare.] In forest law. To pull up by the roots; to cut down and eradicate woods; to clear land of trees, thickets, &c., and prepare it for, or reduce it to tillage. Cowell. Spelman, voc. Essartum. 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 486, 487, § 627. See Assartare. ASSARTARE, Assertare, Exartare. L. Lat. In old English law. To assart, or remove by the roots; to clear land. See To assart. Assertare et in culturam redigere; to assart and reduce to cultivation. Reg. Orig. 257. Assertatum; assarted or cleared. Id. ibid.